Boy Scouts lifts ban on gay leaders

The Boy Scouts of America’s top policymaking board ended its blanket ban on gay adult leaders on Monday while allowing church-sponsored Scout units to maintain the exclusion if that accorded with their beliefs.

The new policy, aimed at easing a controversy that has embroiled the Boy Scouts for decades, takes effect immediately after a vote from the 80-member National Executive Board.

The stage was set for Monday’s vote on May 21, when the Boy Scouts of America’s president, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, told the Scouts’ annual national meeting that that the long-standing ban on participation by openly gay adults was no longer sustainable. He said the ban was likely to be targeted by lawsuits that the Scouts were apt to lose.

“The Boy Scouts are taking the position that reasonable people can disagree and still serve our kids,” said Richard McCartney, the scout executive for the Greater Yosemite Council, which oversees units in seven Central Valley counties.

McCartney said 114 units can found in the Rio del Oro District, which includes Merced, Mariposa and parts of Stanislaus counties. Those units had 1,587 children and 736 adults enrolled as of Dec. 31.

McCartney said it’s unclear how many of the district’s leaders who are gay have not been able to serve before the vote. “Locally, I’m not aware of any,” he said. “It’s likely (there) could be but I’ve never heard of it.”

Two weeks ago, the new policy was approved unanimously by the Boy Scouts’ 17-member National Executive Committee. It allows local Scout units to select adult leaders without regard to sexual orientation – a stance that several Scout councils have already adopted in defiance of the official national policy.

In 2013, after heated internal debate, the Boy Scouts of America’s decided to allow openly gay youth as scouts, but not gay adults as leaders. Several denominations that sponsor large numbers of Scout units – including the Roman Catholic church, the Mormon church and the Southern Baptist Convention – have been apprehensive about ending the ban on gay adults.

The Boy Scouts of America’s top leaders have pledged to defend the right of any church-sponsored units to continue excluding gays as adult volunteers.

Under the new policy:

▪ Prospective employees of the national organization could no longer be denied a staff position on the basis of sexual orientation.

▪ Gay leaders who were previously removed from Scouting because of the ban would have the opportunity to reapply for volunteer positions.

▪ If otherwise qualified, a gay adult would be eligible to serve as a Scoutmaster or unit leader.

▪ There would be no change in the long-standing requirement that youth and adult Scout members profess a “duty to God.”

The Boy Scouts of America faced potential lawsuits in New York and some other states if it continued to enforce its ban. And the exclusionary policy prompted numerous major corporations to suspend charitable donations to the Scouts in recent years.

Like several other major youth organizations, the Boy Scouts have experienced a membership decline in recent decades. Current membership, according to the organization, is about 2.4 million boys and about 1 million adults.

This story was originally published July 27, 2015 at 5:35 PM with the headline "Boy Scouts lifts ban on gay leaders."